Brothers of Adversity
by mystica88
Summary: During Season 5, Castiel learns just how much a part of the Winchester Family is when he is used against Dean as a bargaining chip. lots of Angel whump and a bit of Dean whump for good measure. Not slash.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This one is set somewhere between Season 5's _The Song Remains the Same_ and _My Bloody Valentine._ Hope you all enjoy it even if this one is slashless and please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of it's wonderful characters.

Chapter 1

"Dean, Dean, Dean," Zachariah tutted as he paced in front of the captive hunter. Dean struggled slightly between the two angels that were holding his arms but he knew that it was more for show than anything. He didn't stand a chance against a single angel, let alone the three that were now in the ornate office that he had been zapped into a few moments ago. His only chance of escape was, once again, for Cas to pull through for him and Dean hadn't heard from his only angel friend in over a week.

"Dean," Zachariah said again with a sigh as he perched himself on the edge of a large mahogany desk. "You and your brother have been quite a handful these last few months, let me tell you."

Dean smiled and said, "Well, we aim to please."

The angel let out a humorless laugh as he stood again and shook his head. "No, no you really don't." He turned around and swept his arm out as he continued. "As it is, I had hoped to have Sam here since he is usually a good bargaining chip to use against you, but he managed to slip past us again." Zachariah glared at the two angels flanking Dean at that moment but then quickly reclaimed his calm demeanor as his false smile spread across his face again. "Oh well," he said with a shrug. "I do believe that there may be someone else that you might like to know the whereabouts of." And with a significant look at Dean, he snapped his fingers.

There was a flash in the room and suddenly a body materialized beside Zachariah and immediately crumpled to the floor with a thud. Dean stared in horror at the figure that was now curled in on itself at Zachariah's feet. All he could really make out was tan and red, but he knew who it was even without seeing any distinguishing features and being splattered in blood.

"Cas!" Dean yelled as he started to struggle with true intent against his captors to reach the injured angel's side. But he may as well have been struggling against two cement walls for all the good it did. "You son of a bitch!" he screamed at the head angel. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

Zachariah pressed his lips together in a vain attempt to disguise his grin. "Very little so far, relatively speaking, of course," he responded. "What happens now will be up to your answer, Dean."

"You worthless bastard," Dean growled at him. "He's your brother!"

"That is why this is so regrettable. But…" he reached down then and grabbed a hold of Cas' arm and hauled the unresponsive body from the floor.

Dean could see bloody wounds encircling Cas' wrists, indicating that he had been tied or chained for some time now. His clothes were nearly completely shredded and saturated with dried and fresh blood alike as well as covered in scorch marks. The tears in the clothes flapped apart when Zachariah pulled him up, showing Dean glimpses of the torn skin beneath in varying degrees of healing.

Castiel groaned in pain as his sunken eyes flickered blearily in his head. Zachariah had pulled him upright and Dean watched as his broken friend tried to get his feet under him but couldn't seem to make his knees stay straight. "…Orders are orders, are they not, Castiel?" he said as he gave the angel in his grip a rough shake.

He gasped in pain again as he finally managed to pry his eyes open and keep them there. Dean swallowed hard as he watched Cas' gaze flit about the room while he licked at his chapped and split lips before his gaze finally settle on the hunter. There was a moment where Dean watched the angel struggle to bring him into focus and then the look of profound sadness coated all of his features. "D'n," he croaked softly.

"Damn it, Cas," Dean said with a shake of his head. "Why the hell you let them do this to you?"

"Oh, there wasn't much choice in the matter," Zachariah replied as he raised his other hand and snapped his fingers. Two more angels suddenly appeared in the room and each grabbed one of Castiel's arms and kept him upright between them in much the same fashion as Dean's angels were holding him in place.

"What the hell is this?" Dean snapped back. "How can this be what angels are supposed to act? You don't get your way and you resort to torturing your own family!?"

Zachariah shook his head sadly and said, "Trust me; this is not what I would like to be doing. If it weren't for your stubbornness, Castiel would simply have been gently shown the error of his ways and placed on the correct path again. You, however, are the reason that we have had to resort to such methods, Dean."

"No," Cas said weakly but then was overcome with a coughing fit, curling in on himself as much as his captors would allow him. Dean winced at the wet rattling sound of the angel's gasps.

Dean watched a trickle of blood appear at the corner of Cas' mouth. After a moment of coughing, Cas cleared his throat again and said with a little more power, "No, Zachariah. With you there is no _gentle_ correction. And this is not Dean's fault. He made a choice and it is our Father's will that we follow their choices!"

"Father's will," Zachariah practically spit as he turned around and paced back behind his desk. "Our Father's will is nothing but a myth. He left us to our own devises just as much as the humans. I don't even understand why we still have to even bother with consent these days as it is."

"Because only demons take without permission," Castiel responded sharply. "And last I checked we are not demons."

"I don't know, Cas," Dean said. "I'm sorry, but a few of your siblings have been making pretty good impressions of them lately." He looked over Castiel again and their eyes met. Cas lowered his as if in shame before he spoke softly again.

"Yes, I can see where you would think that, Dean."

"And what do I care what some lowly human and a corrupt and powerless abomination think about me and my methods?!" Zachariah suddenly snapped as he strode around the desk with purpose. He walked up to Dean and reached out, taking Dean's chin in his hand and forcing the hunter to look him in the eyes. "I will ask you one more time, Dean Winchester; will you accept your place as Michael's vessel?"

"Go to hell," Dean told him.

Zachariah's jaw tightened along with his grip, no doubt causing bruises on Dean's chin. But the hunter refused to show signs that he was in pain. "Alright then," The angel said after a second with a forced calm. He shook Dean's face from his grip and then turned around. "Well, there's not much I can do about you, Dean," he said as he walked over to Cas. He nodded at the angels holding him and then they suddenly forced Castiel to his knees and held him there.

"Get the hell away from him," Dean yelled.

"Why, Dean?" Zachariah said as he half turned and looked back at the hunter. "I don't see where this is any of your business. This is a family affair, after all." He turned back and walked around so that he was standing directly behind Castiel.

Dean looked at Castiel and saw the sudden fear flash through his friend's eyes. Dean had no idea what was about to happen, but he knew that whatever it was scared Castiel far more than anything that Dean had ever seen before.

Looking back up, Dean saw Zachariah take his jacket off and toss it onto the desk behind him before taking time to roll up his sleeves. "You see, Dean," he spoke as he worked. "Castiel here, well, he's been a rather bad angel lately and there was a time that disobedient angels would receive a… certain kind of punishment."

Suddenly Cas started to struggle where he was being held. "You wouldn't," he gasped. "Zachariah, you wouldn't dare…"

"Oh, I think you know that I would, Castiel," Zachariah replied with a sickening grin.

Dean just stared wide eyed as his weakened and horribly injured friend was now so suddenly scared that he was using every bit of what strength he had left to try and break free. But it was painfully obvious that he didn't stand a chance of doing so as the angels holding him barely even batted an eye at the attempts.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean yelled he also struggled from his hold to even less advancement.

Zachariah only grinned at Dean as he held a hand between Cas' shoulder blades and started to chant something. "No… Zachariah!" Cas screamed as he continued to struggle. "Please, don't do this, brother!"

Then there was a slight flash of light where Dean had to blink away spots from his eyes. When he could see clearly again, he gasped in surprise. There, to either side of Cas' body, were two large ashy grey wings with streaks of black running through them.

"You son of a bitch," Dean practically whispered as he finally received and inkling of what Zachariah was about to do. His throat had gone dry and he couldn't manage anything else from his lips as Castiel's fearful eyes looked up and held his gaze.

"I didn't need to materialize his wings to do this, really," Zachariah said. "I just thought that you may want to see exactly what was happening, Dean. I mean, this is such a rare occurrence as it is and you will be the first human to ever witness it."

"Zachariah," Cas said softly as he finally stopped struggling. "Do not do this… If you need to punish me, then fine. But don't force Dean to watch this."

"And why not, Castiel?" Zachariah asked innocently. "Don't you want the one that brought you to this position to see the consequences?"

Cas sighed and bowed his head, "Please, brother… this is a family matter. Do not involve him."

"He's doing this to get me to say yes, Cas!" Dean snapped. "It has nothing to do with your rebellion."

Castiel looked up at Dean again with a new flash of fear. It was as if this thought had not occurred to him until the hunter had said it and now there was whole new level of fear on his face; not for whatever was about to happen to him, but that Dean would try and stop it.

"Actually, it's a little of both," Zachariah said with a grin as he reached down and buried a hand in the feathers of Castiel's right wing.

Cas stiffened and closed his eyes. "Brother…" he muttered but that was all that he was able to get out before Zachariah suddenly clenched his fist and ripped his hand away.

Cas threw his head back and screamed. Dean's legs nearly gave out under him as both the very human cry of agony as well as the screeching of an angel's true voice slammed into him. The angel voice died away quickly but Dean was still forced to listen to the near sobs of Castiel's human voice as he rocked forward again, still suspended between the other two angels, and practically shook with pain.

There was a soft rustling sound of feathers in the room as his wings shook and trembled behind him and tried to fold inward but Zachariah held them in place.

"You bastard," Dean finally muttered through clenched teeth as he glared at the handful of feathers, tipped in blood, that Zachariah was calmly examining in his hand.

"Really, Castiel, I'm almost doing you a favor getting rid of these dirty feathers of yours," Zachariah said as he slowly opened his hand and allowed the feathers to drift downward to the floor just in front of Cas' face so that the angel could see them where he was kneeling. "Your time in the pit really did tarnish your once beautiful wings."

Dean gasped and looked up at Zachariah sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh," Zachariah said as he calmly reached his hand back down to rest against Castiel's already battered wing. "I guess you wouldn't know as this is the first time you've actually seen angel wings. But these…" He ripped out another fistful of feathers and held them up for Dean to see as Cas screamed again. This time, his angel voice was far less powerful and it didn't hit Dean as hard but his knees still buckled slightly at the noise. "These feathers have been singed… tarnished by the flames and fumes of hell. Angel wings are supposed to be pure white and your friend here, prior to his little exploits during your rescue mission, had some of the most pristine wings among us."

Zachariah released his handful of feathers again and watched as they drifted to the floor. "Now look at them; as grimy and tainted as the pit itself."

"Yeah, if only your feathers reflect your personalities," Dean snapped. "Yours would be black a pitch!"

The angel looked at Dean and held his gaze as he viscously tore out another fist full of feathers. Cas didn't scream in Angel this time but the human sound of his pain nearly as debilitating.

"It's rather touching how you're still trying to spare Dean, Castiel," Zachariah said with a sick grin. "But I doubt you can keep back your true voice for very long."

"Hey, Zach," Dean said. When Zachariah looked at him Dean forced his dealiest glare and simply told him, "Drop dead."

Zachariah simply grinned back at him. Dean swallowed hard and tightened his jaw as he continued to hold Zachariah's gaze while the angle reached back down and yanked and ripped handful after handful of feathers from the abused Castiel.

Cas was shaking uncontrollably where he was being held as sobs of agony spilled from his lips. Dean was beginning to also tremble but with white hot fury rather than pain. Every time Zachariah reached down and pulled another clump of feathers free, Dean felt his temperature rise another degree. Mentally he was reminding himself how much he was going to relish it when he was finally able to end this dick.

"Brother," Dean heard Cas mutter between his sobs. "Brother, please…"

And the fire that was burning inside was suddenly snuffed out. "Brother?" he whispered.

But Cas had obviously heard him as he started to raise his trembling neck. He looked up at Dean with pain filled eyes. "You still call this piece of shit a brother, Cas?" Dean asked in disbelief.

Cas shook his head slightly before replying wearily. "Just because he hurts me, does not mean that he is no longer my brother."

Any heat Dean still had in his body was suddenly sucked away at Cas' words. Yes, of course that was true enough. How many times had he and Sam hurt each other? And they never denied their kinship. But this was different. This was pure, unadulterated torture. Sure, Dean would have liked to slap some sense into Sam on more than a few occasions with some of his more stupid decisions, but he would never try and tear his limbs off. He would never have someone else hold his brother down as he tore bits of his flesh from his body.

With that thought, Dean grew sick at the memories that came with that visual. He had torn flesh from bodies before. He knew how to do it and he could never even begin to contemplate doing that to Sam, no matter what he had done. Dean always knew that, if Sam had ever appeared at his rack, then would be the day he got back onto it. He had gone as dark as any denizen down there in those final ten years, but he would never have gone so far as to hurt his own brother like that.

"No, Cas, he's no brother to you," Dean practically growled. "Brothers do not do this sort of thing."

Cas looked up at Dean wearily again for a moment and then hung his head. "If only that were true for angels, Dean," he said softly.

"If you are this concerned, Dean," Zachariah said after a moment of silence. "You know what it would take to get me to stop."

"But you wouldn't, would you?" Dean yelled. "You're sick enough that you're taking pleasure from this! You're a god damned monster, Zach, and you don't even realize it!"

Zachariah frowned again as he brought a blood spattered hand to his face as he seemed to think something over. "You know, Dean," he said after a moment. "I do believe that you don't quite understand exactly how painful this is for an angel."

"Zachariah…" Castiel said with some measure of his normal commanding voice that Dean was more used to.

"Yes, I think perhaps you might benefit from this, Dean," Zachariah said, ignoring Castiel's comment. He snapped his fingers again and Dean felt a strange tingle on the hand print scar on his arm. A split second later, Zachariah ripped out another clump of feathers and Dean's body lit up with indescribable agony. He could hear himself screaming and felt his limbs jerk and wrench as the angels continued to hold him in place. He felt as if he was on fire and freezing all at once and the pain was as if all thirty years of his time under Alastair's knife were compressed into a single moment and forced onto him.

The pain washed through his entire body, blanking out his mind and thoughts and all sense of time and place for an untold period. When he finally became aware again, he found he was hanging limply in the angels' grasp, gasping for air and tasting the bitter tang of blood in the back of his throat from where he had bitten into his tongue. He was shaking and sobbing and tears were spilling from his eyes even though he didn't even remember having begun to cry.

"Zachariah!" Dean heard Castiel yell and was fairly certain that the angel had been yelling for a while now but he couldn't find it in himself to look up. "If you are going to punish me then do it, but this is not meant for him!"

Dean shuddered and then finally forced his head up. He blinked through his water filled eyes and saw that Cas was shaking again. But this time, it wasn't in pain, but with the same fury that had Dean shaking not that long ago. He looked stronger and more determined in that moment than Dean had seen from him since he had suddenly fallen into the room.

"Do you not wish for him to know what he has done to you, Castiel?" Zachariah asked innocently.

"Cas…" Dean whispered. He stopped and cleared his raw and cracked throat and tried again. He found his feet again and managed to return to a wobbly stand as he spoke. "Cas, I'm sorry, man. I didn't…"

"Dean, stop," Cas snapped. "This isn't your fault!"

"Oh, but it is," Zachariah said with a sigh. "And Dean is the only one that can stop this." And with that he reached out and pulled out more feathers. Dean was only moderately relieved that he didn't feel the pain this time but he felt sick beyond belief as Cas simply jerked in place and closed his eyes, refusing to scream at all this time.

It didn't matter because Dean knew. He was well aware now that what Zachariah was doing to Cas was worse than his entire stay in hell. This was beyond anything that a human could even begin to be able to endure and Cas had been heading closer and closer to human over the last few months. He couldn't allow this. He could stop it… He could doom the world, but he could stop Castiel's torment.

"Stop!" Dean screamed as he watched as another clump of feathers was pulled free. "Stop it, damn it!"

"Dean, no!" Cas cried, but if he was going to make an argument, he was cut off by a gasp of pain when more feathers were pulled out.

"You son of a bitch! I said STOP!" Dean bellowed.

Zachariah pulled one more single feather free and then held it up to his face. "So, you understand the stakes now, do you, Dean?" he asked as he twirled the feather between his fingers. "You see where your stubbornness has gotten your friend?" He nodded down at Castiel.

Dean's gaze flickered down but couldn't linger long on the look of anger that he saw from Castiel. Dean knew, even with as much pain and suffering the angel was going through, Cas would still never approve of Dean giving in. "Dean," Cas said with undisguised warning in his voice. "Do not do what you are thinking. It will only make everything meaningless."

Dean looked back at him. He stared at Cas and tried to will the angel to understand. "Cas… I can't let him do this to you. Not when it's my faul…"

"This is not your fault!" Castiel yelled back.

Zachariah heaved a long suffering sigh as he flicked the lone feather from his fingers and then suddenly held an angel blade in his hand. "This is getting quite old," he said as he gripped the torn and bloody right wing in one hand while bringing the edge of the blade to rest on top of it right where the wing met Castiel's back.

"You have until the count of ten, Dean, and then I take his wing off. And if you thought the removal of feathers was painful…" he let the threat hang in the air.

Dean looked down in sudden fear at Cas and saw that the angel was now meeting his gaze with a taut determinedness. "Do not say yes, Dean," Cas said firmly.

"One," Zachariah began to count.

"Cas…" Dean said, not sure what it was he should do. Save his friend, or save the world… Now he could almost understand the dilemma that his future self had gone through when he had sent Cas in on a suicide mission.

"Two…"

"Dean, please… Do not do it."

"Three…"

"You god damn, son of a bitch, mother f…."

"Four…"

Dean looked back at Cas and waited to hear him say not to say yes again. But he had closed his eyes and his lips were moving rapidly, though no sound was coming.

"Five…"

"There's not a shred of dignity in you, is there?" Dean asked Zachariah.

The angel tipped his head slightly and then shook it. "No, not a bit… Six."

"You bastard… this will kill him, won't it?"

Zachariah smiled as he said, "Yes, most likely. Though not quickly and, even if he does manage to survive, he'll wish that he didn't. The pain of a removed wing will never completely go away."

"You…"

"Seven…"

"Dean," Cas said softly.

Dean looked back and saw Castiel staring at him pointedly. _Help is coming_. Dean suddenly heard Cas' voice in his head. He blinked and nearly lost what very little cool he still had at this sudden new talent but managed to keep the surprise from his face.

"Eight… do not think that I won't do this, Dean," Zachariah said.

_Dean, close your eyes_.

"Cas…"

"Nine… are you sure you want to see this, Dean?"

_Dean, now!_

Dean slammed his eyes closed. "If that is the way you want this…" Zachariah said. "Te…" and then there was a blinding light on the other side of Dean's eyes. He heard the cries of the angels on either side of him as they suddenly let him go. He collapsed to the floor and was forced to clamp his hands over his ears as he was suddenly assaulted with the ear splitting screeches of angel voices. He had no idea what was happening. For all he knew, they were tearing Cas apart, piece by piece, and all he could do was cringe on the floor as he felt as if his brains were pouring out his ears.

It seemed to go on forever and then, just as suddenly as it all started, it stopped. Dean laid there, almost afraid to move or open his eyes for fear of what he would find. "Dean," a muffled voice reached him through his hands that were still gripping his ears tightly. A hand touched his shoulder gently and he slowly uncurled and brought his hands down. "Dean, Zachariah is gone. It is safe now," he heard Cas speak above him.

He pried his eyes open and looked up. "Cas?" he asked as he looked up and got his first close sight of the batter angel. He still looked just as awful as he had just a few moments ago but there was a new found energy nearly pouring out of him at that moment.

"Yes, Dean… I am… well…" he said and then looked up at something standing above and behind Dean.

"Thank you, brother," he said softly.

Dean sat up quickly then and turned around. There, standing over him with arms crossed and a grim expression was Gabriel. "Gabe?!" Dean gasped as he clambered to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Breaking up the most appalling display between my younger siblings," he said with barely contained rage in his voice.

"I thought you were all for me saying yes," Dean snapped. "What happened to, 'play your role'?"

"Tearing the wings off of my little brother is _not_ in this script!" Gabriel yelled back. Dean could feel the righteous wrath pouring off of the archangel and he took a step back and raised his hands.

"Ok, ok," he said. "I get it… Zach went too far. I have to say, I'm glad that you're at least not so far off the reservation to see that."

"Look," Gabe said as he pointed a finger at Dean. "You may be one stubborn and selfish son of a bitch to keep dragging all this out, but that doesn't mean that Zachy boy has the right to do what he just did! I'd sooner jump on board your little, 'stop the apocalypse,' band wagon than see something like that again."

"Thank you again, Gabriel," Cas said softly from behind Dean.

He turned and looked at Castiel where he was still kneeling. The vision of his bloodied and bared wing flickered and then vanished from Dean's sight. Whatever reserves of energy the guy had had a moment ago seemed to have left him as he swayed in place. "Cas, you alright?" Dean asked worriedly as he turned around fully and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

He sighed and shook his head, "No… but I will be."

"You're going to have to take it easy for a while, Cassie," Gabriel said.

Dean looked back as Gabriel walked up to stand next to both of them. "And you won't be flying around for even longer."

Cas sighed again and nodded, "Yes, I had figured as much."

"Dean," Gabriel said, pulling the hunter's attention back to him. "Where is your brother?"

"If he did as he was supposed to…" Dean said as he rolled his eyes. "He should be at Bobby's by now."

Gabriel nodded and said, "As good of place as any," and then reached out and touched both Dean and Cas on the head before either could say anything else.

With a lurch, Dean suddenly found himself standing in the salvage yard just outside of Bobby's house. Cas was standing beside him but not for very long. The angel suddenly swayed sharply and began to topple over. Dean reached out and just managed to catch him before he bit the ground.

"Hey… Hey, Cas…" Dean panted and he steadied the angel. "I got you, Cas. Just stay with me, alright?" Cas blinked dazedly as he continued to sag in Dean's arms. Dean reached around the heavy angel and got a better hold on him, propping him up against his side. "Bobby!" Dean called out as he started to lead Cas up to the porch. "Bobby! You here!?" he called again as he reached the first step and was suddenly unsure if he was going to be able to get the fast wilting angel up it.

"Dean!?" Sam's voice suddenly came from inside just before the door burst open. "Dean, where the hell…" but he suddenly broke off as he caught sight the angel. "Castiel," he breathed in surprise. He froze for only a second before he launched back into action. "What the hell happened to him?" Sam snapped as he quickly descended the stairs and helped Dean to take some of Cas' weight.

"Zach caught up with him," Dean said grimly as he and his brother began to carry Cas between them inside.

"Sss'm," Cas slurred. "You a'righ?"

"Yeah, Cas, I'm fine," Sam quickly assured him. "But you've looked better. We're going to get you inside, alright?"

Castiel's head bobbed slightly and then his eyes rolled back and he became a complete dead weight between them. With a grunt of effort, the brothers managed to haul him inside.

"What in tarnation is going on around here!?" Bobby's voice greeted them.

"Bobby, looks like Cas is going to have to crash here for a while," Dean quickly explained as he and Sam brought the angel over to the couch.

"How'd he end up like that? Isn't he a damned angel? Shouldn't he have healed up by now!?" Bobby demanded as he rolled behind the trio

"It was Zach," Dean said as he and Sam struggled to get Cas arranged on the couch. He stepped back and looked down at the angel. His coat and shirt were slashed to ribbons with angry red lines were showing through the material where a blade had pierced flesh. But, Dean was fairly sure that the marks were already looking better now than they had when he had first seen Cas.

Dean sighed and shook his head, "Dude was probably used as Zach's pin cushion for at least a few days before I got nabbed. But that's not what I'm worried about."

Sam was kneeling beside the couch gently pushing some of the ruined material aside to examine the wounds. "Yeah, these don't look all that bad," he announced.

"He's healing," Dean said. "Slowly for him, sure, but he already looks a bit better now than before. But I think that it's what we can't see that's the problem."

"Can't see?" Sam asked as he looked up at Dean with a worried expression.

Dean let out a huff of air before he said, "Yeah, Zach tried to use Cas to get me to say yes. Made it so I could see his wings and then started pulling feathers out."

"Aw, hell," Dean heard Bobby mutter.

"He what?!" Sam exclaimed at the same time as he jumped back to his feet. "He… his feathers!?" he said as he waved a hand back at the unconscious Castiel.

Dean shuddered and sighed, "Yeah. And I can tell you, pulling out an angel's feathers is about the most painful thing there is."

Sam tilted his head and then asked, "How the hell would you know that?"

"Because the son of a bitch made me feel it too!" Dean yelled back as he stepped forward and shoved Sam aside. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a drink." He skirted around Bobby and went directly for the kitchen. He made no time in digging out a bottle of whiskey and a dirty glass.

Sam and Bobby exchanged a worried look before Sam turned back around and knelt beside the injured angel again. "Bobby, can you get me some water and towels? These don't look too bad, but I can't see where it'll hurt to get him cleaned up a bit."

"Yeah, I'll be right back," Bobby said with a sigh as he wheeled himself out of the room in search of the items.

Sam was gently removing Castiel's coats and fumbling with the buttons on the dress shirt while he listened to Dean gulp down several shots of whiskey. Bobby was just returning and Sam had revealed Cas' chest from the clothing when Dean decided to reappear. He hovered in the doorway to the living room with half filled glass in hand and watched as Sam took the water from Bobby and began to gently wash the angry red lines that covered the angel.

"With as fast as he's healing, I hate to think how much there was before you saw him," Sam muttered as he worked. Most of the cuts were no longer bleeding and a few disappeared completely as if Sam was able to wash them away with the water.

"Yeah," Dean said with a slight slur to his voice. "Still not healing like he usually does, though."

"Well there's gotta be some kind of limit to what he can take," Bobby scoffed. "He's been kicked out of the club. He told ya that he ain't got the same mojo as before. He's bound to take a little longer to heal up after that kind of abuse."

Dean let out a frustrated sigh before he turned around and left.

"Dean?" Sam called after him.

"Call me if he wakes up," Dean called back just before the screen door slammed shut behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"_You know how much I hate doing this to you, Castiel," Zachariah said as he absently cleaned blood from his fingernails with the end of an angel blade. He was standing only a few feet away from a chained Castiel._

_Cas moaned as he tried to recall how it was that Zachariah could have captured him like this, but his mind was swimming in a haze of pain. Wounds covered his vessel to the point he could hardly keep up with healing them. It didn't help that the wounds were being inflicted with an angel blade so his true form was being hurt as well, weakening him even further._

"_Brother…" Cas sighed as he closed his eyes to the sight of his tormentor. _

"_Oh, I'm sorry, Castiel," Zachariah said with mock sympathy as he moved forward to place the point of the blade against the battered angel's shoulder. "But I can't stop… not yet anyway. You haven't yet told me what I want to know."_

_Cas shook his head adamantly. "No, I won't tell you," he practically choked out._

"_Then there is nothing else I can do for you," the elder angel replied. _

_The stench of holy oil suddenly invaded Castiel's senses. His eyes flew open as he watched Zachariah pour the liquid down the surface of the blade still resting against his shoulder. "I think you may be changing your answer fairly soon, Castiel," Zachariah said and then with a blink of his eye, ignited the oil on the blade and used it to slice into Castiel some more._

_Though his screams of agony, Castiel could hear his brother saying, "We've been here before, Castiel. And we both know that you're going to eventually tell me everything I want to know."_

XXX

"Cas?" Sam asked as he walked into the living room again a few hours later and heard the angel muttering something. His normally pale skin was flushed and he was beginning to stir in his sleep. "Cas, you alright?" Sam asked worriedly as he walked over to the couch.

By the time he was kneeling beside the angel, Castiel was gasping and nearly thrashing in his sleep all while chanting something in Enochian.

"Castiel!" Sam called as he placed his hands on the angel's shoulders and gave him a shake. But that had apparently been the wrong move as Cas violently shook Sam off, causing the Winchester to fall backward and slide across the floor a few feet.

"Shit," Sam muttered as he rubbed at his sore backside even as he made his way cautiously back to Castiel's side. "Cas, come on," he called, trying to find an opening to get a hold of the angel again. "You're safe, Cas. You need to calm down."

"What the hell is going on now?" Bobby snapped as he suddenly made an appearance in the doorway.

Sam finally managed to stand over the vexed angel and pinned his shoulders down into the couch to keep him from trashing too violently but it was clear that Sam was nearly outmatched for strength to keep that up for long. "Get Dean," Sam snapped as he looked up briefly at Bobby. "He's having some kind of fit."

Bobby didn't need any more explanation as he quickly backed up and hurried off to find Dean.

"Cas… hey, Cas, come on. You've gotta snap out of it," Sam called. He frowned as he realized that a few of the deeper wounds on the angel's chest that had yet to fully heal were bleeding again.

Sam's hold was slipping so he slid his fingers down and wrapped them around to the back of Castiel's shoulders to try and get a better grip. It was then that he felt the fabric of the back of the dress shirt was wet and sticky.

"What the…" he muttered as he pulled one hand back up and saw the red liquid that his fingers had picked up. "Shit," he gasped as he quickly dropped back to the floor and used all of his strength to roll the still struggling Cas up off of his back and onto his side, facing towards the couch so that Sam could see his back.

"What the hell!?" Sam heard Dean yell even as he was still trying to register exactly what he was looking at.

The entire backside of the shirt was soaked in blood but there didn't seem to be any clear source. Sam was pulling the shirt off to see the bare back as Dean rushed up and grabbed the struggling angel's arms and pinned him up against the back of the couch so Sam could work.

Sam simply grabbed at one of the tears in the shirt and ripped it open, not bothering to struggle with removing it. But he was still at a loss when he could see the back. There were a few faint lines like the ones that were covering the angel's chest, but the mass of blood that was coating most of his backside did not seem to have any originating point.

"Damn it," Dean said through gritted teeth as he struggled to hold the much stronger angel in place. "It's his wing."

"Can't exactly see to do much about it," Sam said agitatedly.

"Cas! Hey, Cas!" Dean yelled as he shook him hard. "Damn it, Cas, wake the hell up!"

"Dean, he's burning up. I think he's got a fever," Sam said.

"I'll get ice," they heard Bobby say from behind them.

"No, Zachariah," Cas started to mutter. "Please… brother…"

"Would you knock that whole brother stuff off, Cas?!" Dean yelled at him while still trying to keep him from struggling. "He's a dick and not here anyway!" his hand slid from his grip on the tops of Cas' shoulders and slipped down his wet back.

Cas suddenly arched and cried out in pain but his eyes also flew open and his struggles started to slacken.

"Cas?" Dean gasped, quickly pulling his hand away from the shoulder blade that it had slipped to and returned it to the top of the angel's shoulder. "Cas, you back with us?"

Dean didn't like the fine shivers that were running through Castiel's body right then but he was feeling a little better that Cas wasn't muttering incoherently or trashing about so violently anymore.

"Hey, Castiel?" Sam asked as he leaned over to get a look at the angel's face.

"Sam," he breathed as he was able to see the younger Winchester looking at him.

"Yeah, Cas," Sam said as he smiled down at him. "Good to see you're awake."

Cas turned his head slightly and frowned at Dean who was still holding him up. "Why are you holding me, Dean?" he asked in confusion.

"You were kind of scaring us, Cas," Dean said as he started to gently roll the angel down to his back again. "You were freaking out and muttering…"

But Castiel's sudden cry of pain and arching of his back as soon as he was lying against the couch again cut Dean off. The hunter was quick to move him back onto his side but it was a few moments of gasping breaths from the angel before he could speak again.

"Shit, sorry, Cas," Dean was saying over and over again in some variation or other until Castiel was finally able to respond.

"Not… your fault," he gasped. "My wing…where is joins… can't take pressure…"

"Cas, is that why you're bleeding so badly?" Sam asked. He heard Bobby come back and he turned around to take towel filled with ice from him.

Cas nodded and said, "Sorry. Injured wings are difficult to heal." He suddenly hissed as Sam placed the towel on his head.

"Sorry… sorry, Cas, but you're too hot. You need to cool down," Sam quickly explained.

Cas blinked blearily as he seemed to try and process that information. "My grace…" he finally said. "Healing wings takes too much of it for this body to safely handle."

"What are you saying, Cas?" Dean asked.

"Wing injury is rare enough as it is," Cas explained. "But it is even rarer for the angel to be in a vessel as it is healing. The grace that is required to heal wings is extreme. That must be why my vessel's temperature is rising."

"So you're basically cooking Jimmy to heal yourself?" Dean asked.

Cas shook his head, "Jimmy has not been in this vessel since Raphael killed me last year. This is completely my own vessel now."

"So what would happen if you leave it to heal?" Sam asked. "Without your physical body to get in the way…"

Cas shook his head again, cutting Sam off. "I am in no condition to be outside of my vessel at this time. Not only would I lose all cohesion due to my weakened state, but I would attract all the other angels' attention to me and they would find us immediately."

"So… what?" Dean asked. "If you don't have to worry about cooking Jimmy then does it really matter if you run a fever as you heal?"

"I am nearly as affected by physical ailments as any human at the moment, Dean," Cas replied. "I believe that the fever is the reason for my outburst a moment ago."

"Angelic fever dreams… great," Dean muttered.

"Ok, you two Idgits," Bobby butted into the conversation. "I think you both know what to do about a bad fever."

Dean and Sam exchanged a look before they nodded. "Yeah," Sam sighed. "Cas, you're not going to like this, but it's the best way to keep you cool."

Dean nodded and said, "I'll head over to the gas station and grab a few bags, you get him upstairs and ready."

"Bags?" Cas asked. "Bags of what?"

"Ice," both brothers said in unison before Dean made sure that Sam had a hold on Cas before he turned to leave.

"Dean?" Cas suddenly said as he craned his neck over his shoulder to see the elder brother.

Dean stopped and looked back at him. Cas met his eyes and then shifted his gaze to Sam who was still supporting him. "Sam?" he asked.

Sam quickly glanced back and exchanged a worried look with Dean before nodding to the angel. "Yeah, Cas. What is it?" Sam asked gently.

His gaze shifted between the two brothers a moment before he asked, "You're actually here, correct? I… I'm here? This isn't Zachariah…"

"You're here, Cas," Dean quickly said as he strode back over and put a hand on the top of Castiel's shoulder. "You're here, I promise," Dean said firmly. "And you're in pretty rough shape, but we're gonna patch you back up. Got it?"

Cas returned Dean's determined gaze placidly for a moment before he nodded once. "Yes, Dean. I got it." He relaxed back onto his side and turned to face the couch again. "Thank you," he said softly.

Dean stood a moment more, staring at the back of Castiel's head a moment before he looked down at Sam. Sam didn't have anything to offer his brother as he just looked back with a worried expression. Dean shook his head in frustration and then quickly turned, "No bursting into flames while I'm gone," he muttered before he fled from the room. The soft thud of the screen door closing was all the indication that they had that Dean was now gone.

"What about your wing, Cas?" Sam asked gently after a moment of silence. "You're bleeding and loss of blood isn't good for a human either."

Cas shuddered and closed his eyes. "Have to bandage, I suppose," he said softly.

"But I can't…" and then Sam gasped and nearly lost his hold as two faint outlines of wings appeared to either side where he was holding Cas.

"Cas… I still can't…" Sam was saying but then he felt another shudder run through the angel's back just before he could see the wings clearly. The left one seemed perfectly fine, if tucked at an awkward angle beside him, but the right one was a bloodied mess. There were only a few scant feathers remaining near the very top edge of this wing. The rest was raw, bloody skin pulled taut over the ridged bones beneath.

"Shit, Cas," Sam breathed as he tentatively raised one hand up to the batter wing. His fingers had just barely touched the skin when the angel gasped and snapped his wing away from the touch. "Oh god, sorry," Sam quickly apologized. "It's that bad?"

Cas nodded and then said through gritted teeth. "Please, work quickly. It takes much energy to keep them on this plane."

Sam nodded and turned to ask Bobby for supplies but the older hunter was already returning with his med kit. "I have to say," Bobby said as he eyed the wing. "I don't know the first thing about bandaging an angel wing. How about you?" he asked Sam as he handed the kit over.

Sam shook his head and said, "Best I figure is clean the blood up and keep the open wounds covered," he said.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea in theory," Bobby replied as Sam pulled out a square of gauze and raised it to swipe at the blood. "But if he can hardly stand you touching…"

Cas suddenly stiffened and curled in on himself, choking off a cry of pain, as Sam made the first swipe.

"Yeah, that's what I was worried about," Bobby said with a shake of his head.

"Damn," Sam said, pulling his hand back. "I can't touch him without making things worse."

"Have to, Sam," Cas replied into the ratty throw pillow that he was curled around. "You're right, can't bleed much more. It's too much of a strain on my grace to both heal my wing and other injuries and combat blood loss."

"Cas," Sam said. "You realize that the way bandages work is to apply pressure to a wound to stop the blood flow, right?"

He felt another tremor through the angel before he said, "Yes, I am aware. Please, get on with this."

Sam sighed and then returned to his task, trying to blot out the sounds of Castiel's moans and mutters of pain.

About halfway done, Sam gave Cas a slight break as Bobby went to change the now heavily blood tainted bowl of water for fresh. "Cas?" Sam asked softly, not sure if the angel was even still conscious.

"Yes, Sam?" he replied after only a short pause.

Sam shifted in the chair that he was now sitting in beside the couch and leaned forward. He took a deep breath and looked away as he let it out. "Cas, how long did Zachariah have you?" he asked when he finally managed to look back.

Castiel was quiet for another long stretch before he replied very softly and with far more gravel in his voice than normal. "I am… uncertain. Some days… a week maybe?"

Sam swallowed hard and said, "You left us nine days ago, Cas."

Cas sighed and said, "Then, eight days," he replied.

Sam tightened his jaw as he stood up and walked a few steps away in agitation. He took deep breaths as he paced a few steps, back a forth, not far from where the angel was lying. Finally, he turned back and returned to his seat. "Why did he do this?" Sam asked quietly but with obvious rage in his voice. "I get it, you disobeyed. But why the hell did he have to torture you?"

Cas shifted and turned his head to look at Sam. Sam was taken aback by the sorrow in those eyes but Cas only looked at him a moment before he turned back. "He can't find you or your brother," he said. "He was certain that I could tell him where you were."

Sam stared wide eyed at the angel's back a moment. He didn't even hardly notice when Bobby had returned until the older hunter tapped his arm to get his attention. "You in there, boy?" he asked Sam as he held the bowl out to him.

Sam blinked and looked at Bobby. It took him another moment to get his head around what Bobby was offering him before he quickly took it. "Thanks Bobby," Sam said before turning back to face the task in front of him.

He dipped the cloth in the warm water again and began to raise it to the wing. He paused just before he touched it, however and said very softly, "I'm so sorry, Castiel."

XXX

Through the rest of the cleaning, the angel was managing to keep most of his pain contained but as soon as Sam started to wrap his wing with the bandages, he started to writhe and struggle away.

"Cas! Shit, come on, I can't…"

"No…no, no, please… Sam… Please, stop…" he was begging as he tried to get up from the couch.

Bobby was there then, pinning the angel's hip down so that he couldn't rise. "Come on, boy," he snapped at the angel. "You've come this far, just let Sam finish."

"Hurts…" Castiel choked out through a sob.

"Ok," Sam said, swallowing hard and leaning back. "Ok, the bleeding looks like its slowing on its own now that you're cleaned up," he said. "We'll leave you alone for now but you have to tell us if the blood loss is getting too much for you, ok, Cas?"

"Yes, Sam… I promise," he said with a sigh and then the vision of the wings flickered and disappeared again.

"I'm not going to accidentally touch them, am I?" Sam asked.

Cas shook his head, rubbing the sweat that was gathering on his forehead onto the couch cushions. "No, out of reach," he muttered.

Sam wasn't quite sure what that meant but he nodded and finally stood up, shaking out his cramped muscles from leaning over for so long. "Alright, let's get you upstairs then."

"Think you can manage that on your own?" Bobby asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Why don't you give Dean a call and see what's taking him so long?"

Bobby nodded and wheeled out of the room for the wall of phones.

"Come on, Cas," Sam said as he leaned over and wrapped his arm around Castiel's shoulders and under his left arm. "Need to get you upstairs for when Dean gets back."

"Wh…why?" Cas asked blurrily as Sam grunted and lifted Cas up to a seated position.

"Have to get your fever down, Cas," Sam panted with the effort. "Ice bath is the best way to do that." He struggled a moment with the angel before saying, "Come on, help me out here."

Cas moved jerkily and with very out of character gracelessness while he tried to shift himself so that his feet were on the floor again. "This is… I feel… strange."

"It's the fever and blood loss," Sam tried to assure him. "You're probably pretty dizzy right now. Should get some fluids into you pretty soon too," Sam talked as he pulled Castiel's other arm over his shoulders and slowly lifted the angel to a stand. Cas swayed in Sam's hold for a moment as he seemed to have to remind himself how his legs worked.

"I do not like this, Sam," he muttered when he finally seemed to find the ground again.

"Yeah, being sick and injured is not something you're supposed to like, Cas."

"How do you humans deal with this all the time?" he asked as he started to shuffle along drunkenly beside the taller human.

"It's just something we have to live with from time to time."

They had just made it to the first step and Cas was struggling to get his foot to lift that far up when Bobby suddenly appeared beside them. "Dean's not answering his phone," he said softly but with barely contained panic.

Sam stopped dead, leaving Cas to sway haphazardly halfway through his step. "What…" Sam started to ask and then suddenly he found himself shoved away from the angel. "Cas!" Sam exclaimed as his shoulder bumped into the opposite wall.

Cas swayed in place a moment and then he took a faltering step towards the door. "Something's wrong," he muttered. "Have to find Dean."

"Cas, you're not in any shape…" but then there was a flutter of wind and Cas was gone from sight.

"Shit," Sam yelled as he turned to Bobby. "I need a car, Bobby," he said quickly.

"Yeah, figured as much," the older hunter said as he was already rolling himself back into the kitchen.

Sam went back into the living room and snatched up his jacket that had the demon knife in it and pulled out a shot gun from one of the many weapon hiding places in the room. Bobby had fished out a set of keys from a drawer in the kitchen and quickly tossed them to Sam when he came back through.

"Red Chevy out there," Bobby quickly informed Sam.

"Thanks Bobby. I'll call as soon as I know anything."

"You'll call every ten minutes if you know what's good for ya," Bobby called after Sam.

XXX

Sam sped down the road, racing towards the gas station that was only a few miles away from the salvage yard. The tires squealed under him as he yanked the wheel around, swerving into the parking lot of the gas station at full throttle. He slammed on the breaks when he saw the Impala parked alongside the building but there was no sign of any life.

He quickly climbed out of the cab of the truck and had the shot gun at the ready in one hand and the demon knife clutched in his other.

He glanced through the bank of windows of the station to the inside and saw that the place was trashed. There were shelves of items tossed to the floor, scattering cans and bags of chips and bottles of motor oil all over the place. There was no sign of movement inside but Sam's stomach clenched when he noticed a few sprays of blood across some of the walls and against the inside of one of the windows.

Just then he heard a soft moan from the other side of the Impala. He immediately crouched down and readied himself as he came up alongside the car and peered around the edge.

"Castiel!" he exclaimed when he saw the angel leaning against the car, gasping as his arms wrapped around himself as if he were trying to hold his own body together. Sam was worried that assessment might not be far from the mark when he hurried to the angel's side and saw how violently he was shivering.

"Cas! What the hell happened?!" Sam demanded. "Where's Dean?"

"Demons," Cas said through clenched teeth. "Took him… Couldn't… couldn't fight…"

"Damn it, Cas," Sam breathed as he pulled his jacket off and slung it around Castiel's bare shoulders. "You shouldn't have flown off like that."

"No time… Dean…"

"Yeah, he's going to be pissed at me for letting you get worse. Now, do you know where they took him?"

Cas shook his head. "Can track them, though."

"Cas…" Sam said with trepidation. "You're not in any shape…" but he stopped short when Cas finally snapped his head up and looked Sam in the eye. The hunter could see the immense pain that the angel was suffering but he knew that determined look. It was the same look that Dean would give whenever he was in trouble and Sam knew that, no matter what it cost, Dean was going to make sure that his baby brother was alright before he let himself fall apart. That was the look the angel had now and Sam knew that there was going to be no arguing with this celestial being until Dean was safe again.

"Ok," Sam sighed and held up his hands in surrender. "But you're not flying anymore. I hate to think what that probably did to your already injured wing."

"It was… unpleasant," Cas said through gritted teeth.

"Master of understatement, as usual," Sam sighed as he reached down and helped Cas to his feet again. Castiel groaned as he moved but there was no actual protest to the movement.

"South," Cas muttered as Sam reached over and opened passenger door of the Impala. "They are heading South."

"Ok then," Sam said, helping the angel inside and then closing the door. He hurried around and jumped into the driver's seat. It was a little worrying that Dean had left the keys in the ignition but Sam was glad he wasn't going to have to hotwire his brother's beloved vehicle. "South it is," he said and then quickly pulled away from the station and onto the road.

"He was fighting when I showed up," Cas said after a moment of silence. "Cut two of them. Shot a third. But he didn't have the knife… he couldn't kill them. I could barely stand when I got there. Tried to smite one… didn't have the strength."

Sam sighed and said, "Why'd they leave you?"

"Don't think they realized I was an angel," Cas said bitterly as he looked out the window. "Thought I was good as dead."

"Good as…" Sam quickly looked over and realized that Cas was still holding onto his stomach tightly with both hands. It was then that he realized that there was blood sliding out from under his hold. "Shit! Cas!" he yelled as he quickly pulled the car over before he reached out to pull the angel's arms away. "What the hell…"

"There's no time…" Castiel started to argue but Sam had forced his arms away from his body then and revealed the deep puncture wound just under Cas' left bottom rib.

"Cas, we're not going anywhere until that stops bleeding," Sam snapped as he jumped out of the car and hurried for the trunk. He was only gone a moment before he returned with another med kit. "For an angel of the Lord you're awfully stupid, Cas," Sam admonished as he cleared away as much blood as he could.

"Sam, I'll live," Cas said in exasperation. "Dean may not."

Sam paused and then shook his head and returned to the task of patching the angel up again. "Yeah, if he does, though… he's going to kill me if I let you bleed out trying to get to him."

Cas didn't respond to that and simply sat there, gritting his teeth, as Sam worked. "Any idea why they wanted him?" Sam asked.

Cas sighed and then said, "Probably the same reason the angels want you, Sam."

Sam paused again and then swore under his breath as he hurriedly finished wrapping the bandage around Castiel. "Great, bait… why the hell?"

"…Because that's what works," Cas responded. "Michael wants Dean to say yes so he uses you against Dean. Lucifer wants you to agree so he's going to use Dean against you. They both know that you are each other's weak points, Sam."

"Well, welcome to the club, Cas," Sam said angrily as he closed the kit and tossed it into the back seat. He turned back in his spot and then got the Impala going again and onto the road. "How close did Dean come to saying yes when they were tearing into you?" he asked the angel.

Cas remained silent as he frowned. "You're a bargaining chip now too, Cas, so you need to be just as careful with yourself. Dean and I don't want to see you hurt in this either. You've sacrificed too much for us as it is."

"I have done what I believe to be right. Neither you nor Dean owe me anything."

"Yeah, well, that's bull crap and you know it. Doesn't matter if we _owe_ you or not. What matters is we _care_ about what happens to you. And you coming along on this little trip while you're in this state is only going to put you in harm's way again."

"Would you rather I left you to track the demons on your own?" Cas snapped back. "I can tell where their trail goes, Sam. You need me to find Dean again."

Sam sighed and then asked softly, "Don't you think that's exactly what the demons want? They need Dean to get to me; don't you think that we're probably just driving right into a trap?"

Cas was silent again before he nodded slowly. "Perhaps they were aware of who I am after all."

Sam shrugged, "Not sure about that. I can't imagine demons purposefully leaving an angel alive when they may have had a chance to kill you. I think your first guess was probably more accurate. Which means that we're going to find them sooner than they intended. If they aren't expecting me to be able to track them right away, they are probably heading somewhere they think is safe before letting me know where to go. That means we can get the jump on them if we hurry."

"Glad I came along now?" Cas asked with a humorless smile.

Sam laughed and said, "Only a little. Dean's still going to have a fit for bringing you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dean groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. His head was pounding and it felt like he was fighting through a fog to remember what the hell had happened. It wasn't until he smelled sulfur around him and felt his arms tied behind his back that it all came back to him.

He had been sent to the gas station to get ice for the fevered angel back at Bobby's. Everything seemed fine until he had stepped up to the counter to pay for the ice. As soon as he looked up from his wallet, the eyes of the clerk turned black. With barely enough time to draw his pistol before two of the other people in the store rushed up behind him, he spun around and shot one through the head, knocking him to the ground.

But the other was on him then and knocked the gun from his hand and shoved him over the counter. Dean had scrambled in his pockets for his knife when the clerk grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the floor. Dean was gasping as the clerk grinned at him and said, "This was just too easy."

Dean then slashed up with the knife and severed the hand that was wrapped around his throat. He fell to the ground as the demon yelled in agony but was quick to roll away and up to his feet again. The one that had shoved him over the counter was there with a fourth that he hadn't yet noticed standing behind him. "Come on guys, four, really? That's it?" Dean asked as he hurriedly glanced around, hoping there weren't any more. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this as it was.

It was then that he noticed movement outside and he feared that more demonic reinforcements had shown up. But then he saw a familiar face stagger up to the door. "Cas…" he breathed as he saw the angel reach for the door with a shaky hand. Pain was written all over the usually impassive face.

That was all the time Dean had to take in the sight of his friend before the two demons rushed him. He slashed the first one across the face but was suddenly grabbed by an unseen force and slammed into the wall of lottery tickets and cigarettes behind him. He blinked dazedly as he heard the jingle of the bell on the door sound.

Looking over, he expected Cas to come in, ready to smite the holy hell out of these punks. But it was the demon that he had shot that was leaving and meeting the angel. Dean watched as the demon made some kind of move against the angel. Cas' eyes widened but he reached up and placed his palm on the demon's head. Both of them froze for a moment but nothing else happened.

Dean gasped in surprise as the demon pulled back his arm and Cas suddenly crumpled to the ground and out of eye sight. It wasn't until the demon walked back in, holding a large and bloody knife in one hand, that Dean realized what had just happened.

"You bastard! What the hell did you do to him!?" he yelled as he struggled against the force holding him in place.

"Just another dead body," the demon said with a grin. "That and all this blood will help convince your brother that you really are in trouble here."

Dean froze as he realized that the demon didn't even know that he had just stabbed an angel. He was expecting Cas to bleed out from that wound. And, who knows, in the shape he's in, maybe he will. But Dean couldn't believe that. He knew Cas was still alive and he wasn't going to be brought down by something like this.

"Let's get him out of here before the brother shows up," the clerk said hurriedly. Suddenly Dean fell from the wall, only to be caught by two vise-like grips from the other two demons. He was dragged out of the store between them with the clerk and the gun shot demon behind.

They stopped outside and looked at Castiel who was gasping for breath and leaning against the side of the Impala. Dean looked down at Cas in horror as he realized how terribly wounded the angel was right then. He snapped his head back when he heard his own pistol being cocked behind him.

Gunshot demon must have retrieved his pistol when it fell and was now pointing the gun at Cas. "Look at him, he's already as good as dead," Dean quickly protested.

The clerk reached up and pushed the gun down saying, "He's right. Guy's gonna bleed out any minute. But, if we're lucky, the brother will get here in time to hear who it was that took 'em," he said with a nod towards Dean. "That'll at least get him on the right track."

With a scowl, the demon lowered the pistol the rest of the way. "Fine," he growled. He then turned and walked up to Dean. "But no more ruining my fun," he said and then reached up and clubbed Dean into unconsciousness with the butt of the gun.

XXX

"Turn up here, Sam," Castiel's voice was even deeper and rougher than usual.

Sam glanced at him and then turned as ordered. Cas had been getting worse the further they went. His breath was coming in short fast pants and he was clutching at his stab wound again. Sam could see the beads of sweat on his skin and there was an almost constant shiver running through his body now.

"Cas, you have to tell me if you're about to keel over, alright?" Sam said. "They need Dean alive to use against me so we can stop for a minute if you need…"

"I am fine, Sam," he replied, once again not allowing Sam to finish what he was saying.

Sam sighed in exasperation but kept his thoughts to himself. It was plain that Cas was pushing himself far beyond what he should for the sake of getting to Dean as quickly as possible. And, though it was something that Sam was sure he would also be doing if the roles were reversed, he didn't like the idea that he and his brother had taught the angel to be this suicidal. It was bad enough they would do it for each other, but now they had a celestial being following their bad habits.

XXX

Dean was pretty sure he would much rather still be unconscious when he finally opened his eyes. He was in yet another abandoned warehouse from the looks of it. His hands were tied behind him around a pillar near the center of the building with a ring of black eyed demons surrounding him. There were three around him and, from where he was, Dean could make out a couple more scattered about the large space. That probably meant a few more that he couldn't see inside and however many more there were outside. Yeah, he was screwed.

He was just beginning to wonder if Cas might still be alive and able to tell Sam what happened when one of the three noticed he was awake and smiled at him. "Hey, he's awake!" he called out.

One of the three that Dean could see looked up and acknowledged the shout before turning and heading for a door at the end of the warehouse. He opened it with a metal squeak and then disappeared outside.

"So, what's the deal?" Dean asked. "We all waiting around for a party or something? Am I main course or what?"

"No, appetizer," one of the demons said with a grin, causing the others around him to laugh in response.

"No, more like dessert," another responded. "Can't have him until the other shows up."

"Oh, we can _have_ him," another said. "Just can't kill him off yet."

"Well, if the _other_ you're waiting for is Sammy, then you better make sure your life insurance is taken care of, guys," Dean said with a cocky smile that in no way reached his heart. "'Cause you're all going down once he gets here."

"Oh, he'll be a while yet," one said. "We're only staying here until the real party is all set up. Then we'll be all too happy to invite your brother over to join us."

Dean wasn't the praying type but he was praying in his head pretty desperately that Cas had survived and that he had sent Sam on right away because, from the sounds of it, if Sam didn't find him before he was moved again, he wasn't going to stand a chance. As it was, it was going to be an uphill battle for just Sam against all of these demons even with the knife.

Just then the door at the end of the building squeaked open again and the demon that had left a moment ago returned with another behind him. They quickly came over until the new guy, a well dressed young man in a suit and tie, was standing directly in front of Dean. He had a metal rod in his hand that worried Dean, but the hunter was not about to let the demon know that.

"Well, are you the host here?" Dean asked. "Gotta say, I'm not too impressed with this shindig so far," Dean quipped up at him.

"Oh, well," the demon said with a smile. "I guess we're just going to have to heat things up a little then." He reached into his breast pocket then and pulled out a small propane torch. He depressed the trigger on it and a jet of blue fire erupted from the end.

Dean couldn't help but frown when the grinning demon placed the flat circular end of the rod into the flame. "Let's see it then," the demon said as he nodded to a couple of the others standing around. Two other demons, a long haired man and a slight blonde woman, stepped forward then and reached down for Dean.

The hunter started to struggle but it was useless. The man pinned him up against the pillar as the woman reached and yanked down the collar of his tee-shirt, revealing the anti-possession tattoo on his chest. "Hey," Dean said. "How about a drink first?"

"Hold him," the well dressed demon said as he stared at the flat end of the rod in his hand as it started to glow orange in the flame.

The hands on Dean tightened as another set came up behind him and pulled him firmly back against the pillar. There was no room to struggle anymore, but Dean was going to be damned if he wasn't at least going to try.

But it was just as useless struggling against these demons as it had been against the angels not all that long ago. He watched in dread as the leader came forward and brought the now white hot iron out of the flame. He brought the brand lower so that it was just hovering over the tattoo on Dean's chest.

Dean gasped as he felt the heat radiating off of it, knowing that pretty soon it was going to be much, much hotter.

"That eager to be inside of me, huh?" Dean snarled up at the man.

"You have no idea," the demon responded just before he placed the brand against Dean's chest, being rewarded with a howl of pain from the hunter.

XXX

Cas hissed in pain in his seat as he bent over a little further. Sam glanced worriedly at him. "Cas?"

"Hurry, Sam…" he muttered. "We must hurry."

Sam bit his lip and then pressed the pedal down a little further. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I…" Cas cut off a moment as he gasped and flinched. "Hard to explain… Dean… He's in pain."

Sam felt his stomach drop at that but then asked, "How do you know?"

Castiel shook his head slightly and said, "I just do. I'll explain later if I can. But we need to hurry for now."

"Yeah, I got that," Sam grumbled

Cas was silent for a while before he spoke softly again. "We're going to have to talk about our strategy, Sam, because I think the situation is about to get more complicated."

Sam sighed and then nodded, "Yeah, it usually does."

XXX

Sam and Castiel had parked the car in the trees near the road and had made their way up to the abandoned warehouse on foot. It was twilight by now and the light was slightly in their favor here at least.

They skirted around the demonic sentries and split up. Cas went and waited near the main entrance while Sam moved about as silently as he could. One by one, the hunter came up behind each of the guards and took them out with Ruby's knife. Finally, Cas saw Sam sneak up behind the last guard at the entrance and took him out as well.

Sam placed his back to the door as he waved the angel over to him. Bent over and staggering slightly, Cas came to stand on the other side of the door from Sam. Sam frowned as he watched the angel take deep breaths while holding his bloodstained bandaged side. "You sure you're up for this?" Sam asked with a frown.

"Not much choice, Sam," Cas responded.

Sam nodded, now that he knew the stakes, there really wasn't much choice. He wasn't going to be able to do this on his own and Dean needed them to get him out of there now.

Sam nodded to Cas and the angel drew his blade. Sam drew a pistol from the back of his jeans and flipped off the safety. "Ok, here goes nothing…."

XXX

The demons inside all spun around at the sound of the door banging open suddenly. Before they even realized what was happening, the closest one to the door was down with a bullet of salt embedded in his chest. He was just barely getting to his feet again when a knife followed the bullet, causing his body to spark in orange for a moment before he stilled.

That was all the time there was for the surprise to pass before the other demons converged on the towering hunter that had entered their midst.

Cas waited until all of the their attention was on Sam before he slipped inside. Sam had pulled out a flask of holy water and was using it to keep the other demons back while he wielded the knife on another.

It took Cas a moment to spot the slumped figure still tied to the pillar at the center of the room, currently unguarded. Glancing back to Sam, he saw that the younger Winchester was holding his own against the half dozen demons that still remained. He hurried over then to Dean and started to cut the ropes with his blade to release his hands before the hunter so much as stirred.

"Wh…" he muttered.

"Hold still, Dean," Cas said as he worked. "Sam and I will get you out of here soon."

"C…Cas…?" Dean asked groggily.

Cas nodded once as he released Dean's hands. No sooner was the hunter free, however, than he tried to spin around to grab at Cas. Castiel was faster, however and grabbed Dean's wrist with one hand and pulled the hand away from his body, dropping his blade in the process. With his other hand, he reached up and pulled down the top of Dean's tee-shirt, revealing an angry burn that broke the tattoo. In its place, there was seared a new mark of a circle with a line through it into the flesh.

Cas looked up at Dean's face then and two jet black eyes looked back at him with an evil grin to match. "Too late, feathers," the demon said in Dean's voice. "I'm not going anywhere."

Cas clenched his jaw and then placed his palm over the brand. There was a sudden flash and the demon shrieked in pain.

Cas stumbled backward as the demon staggered the opposite direction. It looked down at the brand and saw that it was now just as destroyed as the tattoo had been a moment ago. "Fucking angel," he snapped and then looked up as Cas stumbled back some more before falling on the ground.

Demonic Dean grinned then as he slowly advanced on the downed angel. "That's all you have left, isn't it? You're all burned out… all the holy used up…" he bent over and snatched up the angel blade that was on the ground beside him.

Suddenly there was a multi-voiced shriek from across the room that drew demon Dean's attention. He looked up in time to see the remaining four demons spewing forth their smoky selves from their meat suits. "So, Sammy, come to save the day have you?" Dean said as he stepped up and grabbed Cas by the collar of Sam's jacket that he still wore. He lifted Cas to his feet one handed and then turned him around so that he was braced against Dean's chest and facing Sam.

"Don't even think about using one of those tricky little exorcisms with me," he told Sam even as the younger hunter made his way across the room to them.

"You're angel's all juiced out. I could snap his neck in a second and kill him right here."

"Yeah," Sam said. "But you won't." he continued to move steadily towards them. "Dean won't let you."

Demonic Dean laughed as he brought his other hand up to grab the other side of Cas' head. "You wanna bet?"

But Sam was already chanting the exorcism as he moved closer. The demon winced but then snarled. "You want the death of an angel on your hands?" he asked as he took a step backward, dragging Cas with him.

Cas' breathing was fast and harsh and he probably would have dropped to the floor in an instant if he wasn't being held up but he did manage to speak. "Dean… fight it," he said softly.

"You of all things should know how pointless that is," the demon scoffed at him. "You took over that little vessel of yours there. You might have been nice enough to get consent first, but you know that the pitiful soul you pushed aside couldn't have taken the reins back if you didn't want him to."

"Dean can. He won't let you hurt me," Cas said with confidence.

"He won't?" the demon sneered as he grabbed the top of Castiel's head by the hair and yanked his head back. The demon twirled the angel blade around in his hand and quickly pressed it to Cas' exposed throat.

"Stop with the chanting now, Sam, or that's it for Cassie here."

Sam came to a halt and eyed the situation wearily but didn't stop chanting.

"You don't think I'm serious?" the demon spat and then reached down, plunging the blade into Castiel's shoulder.

Cas gasped in pain and Sam's chanting faltered.

"No, keep going, Sam," Cas gasped out.

"I thought you said I couldn't hurt you, angel," the demon scoffed into his ear. "I think I just did."

"Dean…" Cas gasped but was cut off when he was forced to groan in pain as the demon slowly twisted the knife in his shoulder. "Dean… stop it… just… a little more!" Cas practically pled.

Suddenly the knife stopped twisting. Sam picked up the chant again as he saw the frown on the demon's lip. He picked up the pace of his words, rushing towards the end of the exorcism.

"Dean… please, fight it," Cas panted.

Suddenly Dean released Castiel and the angel crumpled to the ground. "Sammy… hurry it up," Dean gasped as he doubled over, clutching at his head. "Son of a bitch is too strong."

Sam rushed up and grabbed Dean's hands and held onto him tightly as he hurriedly finished up the chant. Suddenly, just before Sam had finished, the demon tossed Dean's head back and fled from his body.

Sam gasped and caught Dean before he fell but Dean was already pushing Sam away as he tried to stagger forward. "No… no, it's going for…" but he was too late.

Cas was just starting to struggle back upright when the billowing smoke descended on him. "Cas!" Dean cried as he watched in horror as Castiel went rigid as the smoke forced its way into his mouth and nose.

"Oh God," Sam muttered. "Can it do that? He's…"

And then Cas was coughing and choking as he fell onto all fours on the floor.

"Cas? Cas!?" Dean called as he rushed up to the angel.

"Stay back!" Cas suddenly yelled at him as he looked up at Dean. His eyes were a mix of swirling black and bright white light.

Dean staggered to a halt and stared in wonder. It was as if the battle between the two opposite forced was being waged in Castiel's eyes.

The angel opened his mouth and coughed again. A puff of smoke expelled but quickly dove back into his nose.

"Sam, exorcism… now," Dean snapped.

But Sam was already speaking rapidly behind him.

Cas started to convulse as he collapsed to the ground completely. "Cas, hold on!" Dean yelled as he ignored Castiel's warning and rushed over, grabbing the angel in his arms and trying to keep him steady.

"Dean… don't… you're vulnerable…" Cas gasped before he started choking and writhing again.

Suddenly an eerie laugh came from Castiel's lips, causing Dean's stomach to drop out of him. "He's going to lose. I'm going to kill him," the demon spoke through Cas. But then suddenly Cas gasped again and the black that had been winning in his eyes was pushed back again.

"Sam! Hurry!" Dean yelled as he clutched the angel tighter. "Hang in there, Cas. You've got to hold it so Sammy can toss this jerk back to hell."

Castiel gasped and shook again but nodded his understanding as he gritted his teeth and clamped his mouth closed.

His body shook again and a moan rumbled in the back of his throat. His lips started to part and a thin wisp of smoke began to seep out. But with a shake of his head, he forced his lips back together and closed his eyes tightly.

Dean realized that Cas wasn't breathing anymore even though his body was still jerking in his arms.

"Sam..." Dean called again.

The volume of Sam's voice increased as he was nearing the end again.

Cas was starting to digress into an all out seizure, causing Dean to have to use all of his strength to keep him in place. And still the angel refused to take or let out a single breath.

"Christe Glorius Pacem!" Sam finished loudly.

Suddenly Cas arched sharply in Dean's arms and threw back his head. His white lips were forced apart as he and the demon shrieked in union and the billowing smoke rushed out of his mouth and pooled onto the ground where it quickly disappeared into the floor.

As soon as the last of the smoke had left Castiel, the angel shuddered and started to gasp as small sounds of agony rumbled in the back of his throat.

"Cas!" Dean gasped as he finally pulled the blade from the angel's shoulder and then gathered him into his arms tightly. "Cas, stay with me… you're fine now… it's gone," he muttered as Cas shook and moaned.

Sam came up beside them and watched as Dean held the angel as if he were a scared and sick child, comforting him with soothing words and soft shushing sounds.

After a few moments of this, Cas went limp in Dean's arms but it was clear that the angel had simply passed out as he was still breathing and the slight tremors hadn't quite left him yet. "He's exhausted, Dean," Sam said softly. "We should get him back to Bobby's."

Dean nodded as he struggled to stand up while still keeping Cas in his arms. Sam helped as best he could, but Dean seemed determined to carry the angel himself.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: final chapter! Thanks for reading and please remember to leave a review! Anything is welcome whether critiques or praise, doesn't matter. It all helps in the end!

Chapter 4

When they finally made it back to the Impala, Dean told Sam to drive as he laid Cas out on the back seat. He then went to the trunk and dug out two protection amulets before climbing into the back with the injured angel. He placed one charm around his neck and the other around Cas' before he settled onto the floor of the back seat and opened up the med kit that Sam had tossed there earlier.

"Can't believe you let him come along, Sammy," Dean muttered as he started to clean and bind the vicious wound in Cas' shoulder.

"There wasn't a whole lot of _letting_ involved Dean. I was worried if I didn't have him ride he was going to try and wing it again."

"Idiot," Dean muttered as he worked.

They stopped at the same gas station again and were relieved to discover that no one had returned there. They quickly grabbed the bags of ice that Dean had originally gone there for and hurried it back to Bobby's.

Dean made a small pack of ice on the way and placed it against the fevered angel's forehead. There was little reaction to this other than some shifting as Cas tried to turn his head away from the cold.

"Hold still, Cas," Dean said softly as he cradled the angel's head in his lap. "You're practically burning up here." He pulled out a single cube and placed it in Castiel's mouth. Cas tried to push it out with his tongue, but Dean held his mouth closed. It didn't take long at all for the cube to melt away completely in his far too warm mouth and Dean was relieved to see Cas' throat work as he swallowed the small portion of liquid.

But Cas was still out of it when they reached Bobby's. They brought him upstairs and quickly placed him in the ice bath. This got Castiel to open his eyes again as he gasped and tried to squirm out of Dean's grip to escape from the icy water. Dean was rather concerned when he realized that he was barely having to struggle to keep the angel in the water, however. And, though his eyes were open and he seemed aware of the cold, Cas didn't say anything or respond to either of the Winchester's questions.

He was out of it again when they pulled him from the water and wrapped him in a blanket. Deciding keeping him in the panic room may be better, they brought him down there and laid him out on the cot. They worked to once again clean and bandage his wounds and then sat back to wait to see if he would heal on his own this time. That had been nearly four hours ago.

Sam now hovered in the doorway for a while, watching his wearied brother fuss over angel. Cas was clearly experiencing the blood loss now as his skin was nearly the same tone as a corpse. His lips were chapped and white and a near constant tremor was running through his now far too cool body. The fever, at least, seemed to have gone, but that actually worried the brothers even more. Cas had said that it was his grace that had caused the fever before. If the fever was gone now…

Sam shook his head and then turned and climbed the stairs again.

"How those two doing?" Bobby asked when Sam emerged.

Sam sighed and said, "Physically, Dean's fine. He's gonna need to get his protection tattoo again, but whatever Cas did to burn off the seal seemed to also at least cleanse the wound. It looks like it'll heal pretty well now."

"Yeah, that covers a part of my question," Bobby grumbled.

"Cas isn't doing so good," Sam said softly. "I… if his powers don't kick in soon, I'm worried he's not going to make it."

Bobby sucked in air then and muttered, "Balls," under his breath before he said, "Dean's not going to take that very well, you know?"

"Yeah," Sam said sadly. "I know. Can't say that I will either but, yeah, I'm pretty worried about him right now too."

"So, nothing at all on the angelic healing front?" Bobby asked.

Sam shook his head. "The wound in his side had started to heal. It's not as deep as it had been and the bleeding had nearly stopped when he had gotten to Dean. But, what the demon put him through made it worse again and seemed to drain him completely. The wound in his shoulder is showing signs of infection and hasn't completely stopped bleeding yet. As for his wing…" Sam just shrugged.

"Yeah, no telling what a mess that came to after he flew out of here like that," Bobby agreed.

They were silent a while before Sam let out a huff of air before he pushed off of the counter he had been leaning against and walked towards the door. "I'm going to get some air," he announced and quickly disappeared outside.

XXX

"Hey, Cas," Dean started to talk as he checked the angel's shoulder wound again. It was warm to the touch, made even more apparent by the extreme lack of heat coming from the rest of the angel's skin. "You've got to pull out of this, you hear me?"

The angel didn't so much as twitch. Dean sighed as he rang out the cloth from the warm water that he had just dunked it in and continued to try and clean the ugly wound. "You're a figgin angel, Cas. You're not supposed to get this bad." He sighed and leaned back into the chair and stared at Castiel for a while, counting each labored breath that the angel took. Angels shouldn't need to breath, Dean thought. But it was clear this one did. This one was hardly an angel anymore.

"And it's my fault," Dean muttered out loud as he ran a hand over his tired face.

XXX

"Hey… ah… Gabriel," Sam said as he started to pace outside the house. He glanced up at the night sky and the stars that shown above him. It had been a long day.

"Dean, he said you're the one that saved them from Zachariah because of Cas. Well… Cas, he's not doing so good. He… well… a lot happened after you put him here and, he…"

"You know," a voice spoke from over by the house. Sam spun around and saw Gabriel leaning against the railing of the porch. "I think I might be just as bad as Zachariah after all," he finished with a deep frown.

"Gabriel?" Sam asked as he came up the steps to stand before the archangel.

Gabriel sighed and shook his head, "I should have healed him when I dropped him off," he said sadly.

"You could have done that?" Sam asked.

Gabriel laughed and waved a hand in front of Sam. "Hi, I'm Gabriel, archangel of the lord. Healing kind of comes with the territory, Sammy."

Sam shrugged and said, "I didn't know if maybe you couldn't heal another angel or something."

Gabe sighed and leaned against the railing again. "Well, I can. And I should have. But, well I thought that it might do you two good to see the consequences of your actions."

"So you freaking let your brother suffer like that?!" Sam snapped as he waved a hand back towards the house. "He was a mess, Gabriel! You thought it was too far for Zachariah to tear him apart to get to us but it's alright for you to leave him in pieces!?"

"Hey, Sam! I'm trying to apologize here!" Gabriel said as he turned and faced the hunter.

Sam stared, stunned, back at the archangel. "Really?" he asked after a moment.

With a sigh, Gabriel buried his hands in his pockets and slumped over as he said, "Yes. I shouldn't have done that to Castiel. He's only doing what he thinks is right. I had no right to leave him like that to try and influence the two of you boneheads."

"Well," Sam said rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "It was pretty bad. But…" he shook his head and pressed on. "… It's worse now. Demons came and grabbed Dean and Cas…"

"Oh, Cassie…" Gabriel groaned. "He didn't…"

Sam lowered his head and nodded. "Yeah, he kind of over did it and got pretty battered in the process. He's not healing anymore, Gabriel," Sam ended softly.

"That self sacrificing idiot," Gabriel spat just before he suddenly disappeared.

Sam gasped and then hurried into the house. He heard the commotion downstairs as soon as he stepped through the door.

"What in the hell?!" Bobby was exclaiming as he came rolling in from the kitchen with a shotgun in his lap.

Sam held up his hands to the hunter and said, "It's ok, Bobby. It's Gabriel. I called him to help Cas and I think he's just startled Dean is all."

"Gabriel!" Bobby exclaimed. "That archangel dick that masquerades as the friggin trickster!?"

"Yeah, look, don't worry, Bobby," Sam said hastily as he heard Dean's voice rise in volume down below. "It'll be alright. I promise," he said and then quickly ducked away and hurried down the steps to the panic room where Gabriel and Dean were in a yelling match.

"You sure as hell took your time coming to heal his ass!" Dean was yelling at Gabriel. "You could have done that from the start and this never would have happened!"

"You could have said yes from the start and my baby brother wouldn't have been tortured to begin with!" Gabriel yelled back.

"Hey! Hey!" Sam called as he rushed into the panic room and stepped between the two. He could feel the tingle of power radiating off of the archangel. If he wasn't careful, he and Dean were going to get smote into the next millennium. "Dean," Sam said, turning to his brother. "Gabe's here to heal him now so how about letting up on him until after Cas is better, alright?"

"Yeah, whatever," Dean huffed as he stepped back and moved to the other side of the room. He leaned against the wall and waved at Gabriel. "Go ahead, do your thing."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and said, "You really have some kind of death wish, don't you?" but he walked passed Sam and knelt beside the still unconscious Castiel anyway.

He reached out and placed his hand on Castiel's forehead for a moment before he sighed and said softly, "Cassie, why do you keep doing this to yourself?" and then he closed his eyes.

His hand glowed a golden light for a moment that shimmered and hovered around his hand and over Castiel's forehead before it seemed to sink into the weakened angel's skin. As soon as the light was gone, Castiel gave a gasp and opened his eyes.

"Cas?" Dean asked as he pushed off from the wall and leaned closer but didn't actually take a step forward.

Cas blinked and looked around. He looked over at Dean and then over at Sam and then finally up at his brother. "Gabriel?" he asked in confusion as he slowly started to sit up.

"Sorry I took so long, bro," Gabe said with a frown.

Cas furrowed his brow at Gabriel as he tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Why are you here at all?" he asked.

"Because he's your brother, Cas," Sam said softly from the doorway.

Cas looked over at Sam and then back at Gabriel.

"Yeah, I should have healed you right away," Gabe said as he stood up. "I still don't approve of what you're doing with these two, but that doesn't mean I should sit back and let you self destruct in the process."

"You could help him, you know?" Dean said as he finally left the side of the room and came over to stand on the other side of Castiel from Gabriel. "We could use a little archangel help here."

Gabriel sighed and said, "I'm not going to interfere anymore than I have to." He looked down at the still confused Cas and said, "I don't want to see any of my family hurt. It makes me sick that the others would do this to you even if you don't agree with them. But I'm not going to choose sides here." He looked up at Dean and said, "I love my family, Dean, misfits and all. I think that you, of all people, would understand that."

Dean huffed and said, "Yeah, I get not wanting to hurt your family. But your brother, Zach… he's a dick. You said it yourself, he went too far. He's certainly no brother of Cas' here so I can hardly understand why you'd keep him on the invite to the reunions. But hey, it's your call. Just remember who it is that is getting his ass handed to him for doing what's right and who among your family is doing that to him."

"Dean," Cas said softly as he stood up in one fluid motion. Suddenly he was wearing his customary outfit again, trench coat and all, and looked as if he was stronger now than he had been in months. "I can stand up for myself," he told the hunter. "If this is Gabriel's decision, then I will not interfere."

He turned and nodded his head to Gabriel. "Thank you again, brother. I am in your debt."

Gabriel laugh lightly and tapped Cas on the shoulder, "What are brothers for?" he said. He winked then and disappeared.

"You've got one messed up family, Cas," Dean said with a shake of his head. "But it's good to see you back on form."

Cas tilted his head to Dean and then nodded, "Yes, it is good to feel…" he held out his hand and flexed it. "Close to normal again."

"He bring your powers back?" Sam asked.

Cas looked at Sam and said, "I am back to my own person strength, though I am still cut from the host so I am still quite limited."

"Well, you're not bleeding out anymore and that's the important part," Dean said with a grin.

Cas looked at him in confusion and said, "It is good that I am healed, but is it not also important that I am able to help you fight?"

"Not as important as it is that you're alive, Cas," Sam said as he came up and clasped Castiel on the shoulder.

The angel looked between the two of them in utter confusion and then said, "I do not understand, but, as I am able to help you again, I will not bother with the rest. Thank you both, but I must continue with my mission."

Before either brother could say anything else, Cas was gone.

"Well, guess his wings are better now too," Dean said with a shake of his head.

Sam stood there and frowned. "You think he doesn't realize that he's more than just a weapon to us?" he asked.

Dean looked at his brother and shrugged, "Gotta know by now. He can't be _that_ dense."

Sam frowned some more as Dean walked out of the panic room and left him standing there pondering. He sighed and shook his head and then turned to follow Dean. "I suppose we can tell him next time," he muttered and then flipped the light in the panic room off before he headed upstairs.

Of course next time he and Dean were dead and Castiel found out that God didn't want to help them. And then Cas was drunk and there was a whore to deal with and then Dean started to fall apart… so those words were left unsaid for far too long.


End file.
